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Background: The first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a drastic reduction in kidney transplantation and a profound change in transplant care in France. It is critical for kidney transplant centers to understand the behaviors, concerns and wishes of transplant recipients and waiting list candidates., Methods: French kidney patients were contacted to answer an online electronic survey at the end of the lockdown., Results: At the end of the first wave of the pandemic in France (11 May 2020), 2112 kidney transplant recipients and 487 candidates answered the survey. More candidates than recipients left their home during the lockdown, mainly for health care (80.1% vs. 69.4%; P<0.001). More candidates than recipients reported being exposed to Covid-19 patients (2.7% vs. 1.2%; P=0.006). Many recipients and even more candidates felt inadequately informed by their transplant center during the pandemic (19.6% vs. 54%; P<0.001). Among candidates, 71.1% preferred to undergo transplant as soon as possible, 19.5% preferred to wait until Covid-19 had left their community, and 9.4% were not sure what to do., Conclusions: During the Covid-19 pandemic in France, the majority of candidates wished to receive a transplant as soon as possible without waiting until Covid-19 had left their community. Communication between kidney transplant centers and patients must be improved to better understand and serve patients' needs., (Copyright © 2021 Société francophone de néphrologie, dialyse et transplantation. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Background: Long-term studies have demonstrated a slight increased risk for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) for living kidney donors (LKD). In France, living kidney donation doubled within the past 10 years. We investigated the change in characteristics of LKD between 2007 and 2017 and the adequacy of follow-up., Methods: Data were obtained from the national registry for LKD. We compared characteristics of LKD between two study periods: 2007-11 and 2012-17, and stratified donors by age and relation to recipient. We aggregated four characteristics associated with higher ESRD risk [young age, first-degree relation to recipient, obesity, low glomerular filtration rate (GFR) for age] in a single risk indicator ranging from 0 to 4., Results: We included 3483 donors. The proportion of unrelated donors >56 years of age increased significantly. The proportion of related donors <56 years of age decreased significantly. The body mass index and proportion of obese donors did not change significantly. The proportion of donors with low estimated GFR for age decreased significantly from 5% to 2.2% (P < 0.001). The proportion of donors with adequate follow-up after donation increased from 19.6% to 42.5% (P < 0.001). No donor had a risk indicator equal to 4, and the proportion of donors with a risk indicator equal to 0 increased significantly from 19.2% to 24.9% (P < 0.001)., Conclusions: An increase in living kidney donation in France does not seem to be associated with the selection of donors at higher risk of ESRD and the proportion of donors with adequate annual follow-up significantly increased., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved.)

Background and Objectives: The risk of major bleeding after percutaneous native kidney biopsy is usually considered low but remains poorly predictable. The aim of the study was to assess the risk of major bleeding and to build a preprocedure bleeding risk score., Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: Our study was a retrospective cohort study in all 52,138 patients who had a percutaneous native kidney biopsy in France in the 2010-2018 period. Measurements included major bleeding ( i.e. , blood transfusions, hemorrhage/hematoma, angiographic intervention, or nephrectomy) at day 8 after biopsy and risk of death at day 30. Exposures and outcomes were defined by diagnosis codes., Results: Major bleeding occurred in 2765 of 52,138 (5%) patients (blood transfusions: 5%; angiographic intervention: 0.4%; and nephrectomy: 0.1%). Nineteen diagnoses were associated with major bleeding. A bleeding risk score was calculated (Charlson index [2-4: +1; 5 and 6: +2; >6: +3]; frailty index [1.5-4.4: +1; 4.5-9.5: +2; >9.5: +3]; women: +1; dyslipidemia: -1; obesity: -1; anemia: +8; thrombocytopenia: +2; cancer: +2; abnormal kidney function: +4; glomerular disease: -1; vascular kidney disease: -1; diabetic kidney disease: -1; autoimmune disease: +2; vasculitis: +5; hematologic disease: +2; thrombotic microangiopathy: +4; amyloidosis: -2; other kidney diagnosis: -1) + a constant of 5. The risk of bleeding went from 0.4% (lowest score group =0-4 points) to 33% (highest score group ≥35 points). Major bleeding was an independent risk of death (500 of 52,138 deaths: bleeding: 81 of 2765 [3%]; no bleeding: 419 of 49,373 [0.9%]; odds ratio, 1.95; 95% confidence interval, 1.50 to 2.54; P <0.001)., Conclusions: The risk of major bleeding after percutaneous native kidney biopsy may be higher than generally thought and is associated with a twofold higher risk of death. It varies widely but can be estimated with a score useful for shared decision making and procedure choice., (Copyright © 2020 by the American Society of Nephrology.)

High renal resistive index (RI) is observed in diabetes and is associated with poor patient survival, but whether it is primarily due to renal vascular resistance or systemic vascular alterations is unclear. The respective impact of kidney transplant from diabetic donors or to diabetic recipients on RI would shed some light on this issue. The objective of the study was to analyze the impact of donor and recipient diabetes on RI in order to understand the respective impact of the kidney and the vascular environment. The authors conducted a retrospective study in 1827 renal transplant recipients who received a kidney between 1985 and 2017, and had Doppler measurements at 3 months after transplant. Donor and recipient characteristics at the time of transplant and at 3 months were reviewed. Both donor diabetes and recipient diabetes were associated with RI in univariate analysis, but only recipient diabetes remained significantly associated in stepwise multivariate analyses (effect estimate on RI: +0.03 ± 0.005, P < 0.001). These findings were confirmed when RI was expressed as a binary variable using a cutoff of 0.75 (OR = 2.50 [1.77, 3.54], P < 0.001). Other determinants of RI were recipient characteristics (age, sex, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and duration of dialysis). Donor characteristics were not associated with RI. Our results suggest that high RI observed in diabetic recipients shortly after transplant is primarily due to the new vascular environment, rather than to characteristics of the transplanted kidney. Therefore, RI reflects systemic rather than intra-renal changes., (©2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Purpose: Post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is associated with significant mortality in kidney transplant recipients. We conducted a prospective survey of the occurrence of PTLD in a French nationwide population of adult kidney recipients over 10 years., Patients and Methods: A French registry was established to cover a nationwide population of transplant recipients and prospectively enroll all adult kidney recipients who developed PTLD between January 1, 1998, and December 31, 2007. Five hundred patient cases of PTLD were referred to the French registry. The prognostic factors for PTLD were investigated using Kaplan-Meier and Cox analyses., Results: Patients with PTLD had a 5-year survival rate of 53% and 10-year survival rate of 45%. Multivariable analyses revealed that age > 55 years, serum creatinine level > 133 μmol/L, elevated lactate dehydrogenase levels, disseminated lymphoma, brain localization, invasion of serous membranes, monomorphic PTLD, and T-cell PTLD were independent prognostic indicators of poor survival. Considering five variables at diagnosis (age, serum creatinine, lactate dehydrogenase, PTLD localization, and histology), we constructed a prognostic score that classified patients with PTLD as being at low, moderate, high, or very high risk for death. The 10-year survival rate was 85% for low-, 80% for moderate-, 56% for high-, and 0% for very high-risk recipients., Conclusion: This nationwide study highlights the prognostic factors for PTLD and enables the development of a new prognostic score. After validation in an independent cohort, the use of this score should allow treatment strategies to be better tailored to individual patients in the future.

Kidney transplantation is the favored method to treat end-stage renal disease. Some recipients develop severe diseases requiring admission to an intensive care unit (ICU). Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication among critically ill patients but few data are available among renal transplant recipients. The aim of this monocenter retrospective study was to describe renal function in kidney transplant recipients admitted to an ICU and to evaluate their renal functional recovery after this stay. We identified all renal transplant recipients admitted to our medical ICU from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2010: namely, 79 stays by 62 patients. We used the glomerular filtration rate criteria of the RIFLE classification to evaluate AKI during the ICU stay. During the ICU stay, 56 patients (70.9%) were classified as "no AKI" according to the RIFLE classification; 11 (13.9%) belonged to class R, 10 (12.7%) to class I, and 2 (2.5%) to class F. Overall, 24% of the patients needed dialysis during the ICU stay. Mortality rate at 3 months after the ICU stay was 25.3%. Among the patients who survived, 40 (68%) recovered to their baseline renal function at 3 months, most of them being classified as no AKI during the ICU stay. We have herein reported the evolution of renal function among kidney graft recipients after an ICU stay., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To compare efficacy and tolerance of infliximab versus rituximab to treat refractory Wegener's granulomatosis (WG), and clarify their respective indications., Methods: Patients with systemic WG refractory to, or intolerant to steroids and consecutive immunosuppressant lines, including oral cyclophosphamide, were randomly assigned to receive infliximab or rituximab and their ongoing regimen. The primary endpoint was partial (PR) or complete remission (CR) at month 12. The secondary endpoint was the occurrence of adverse events. Long-term follow-up data were subjected to post-hoc analysis., Results: Between 2004 and 2007, 9 infliximab and 8 rituximab patients were included. At M12, we observed 2 infliximab and 4 rituximab CR, 1 infliximab and 1 rituximab PR, 5 infliximab and 2 rituximab failures and 2 deaths (NS). Post-hoc analysis was conducted after 30.6±15.4 months of follow-up. Among the 15 survivors, 2 infliximab patients and 1 rituximab patient relapsed. Among 5 infliximab non-responders, 4 were successfully switched to rituximab. During follow-up, one patient from each group died. Over the long term, 10/17 (59%) patients responded to rituximab, 1 to infliximab, 2 to other strategies and 2 died. Despite the 2 deaths, tolerance of both drugs was considered acceptable in terms of WG severity before treatment and previous treatment lines., Conclusions: Our observations demonstrate the usefulness of infliximab and/or rituximab to obtain remission of refractory WG with a trend at M12 favouring rituximab. During long-term follow-up, rituximab was better able at obtaining and maintaining remission.

Background and Objectives: Sarcoidosis is a multisystem disorder of unknown etiology. The outcome of renal transplantation on patients with sarcoidosis is not well known. A few case reports have described recurrence of sarcoidosis after transplant. Here, we report for the first time results and outcome of renal transplantation in a series of patients with sarcoidosis., Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: Eighteen patients with sarcoidosis who underwent renal transplantation were identified retrospectively in eight French renal transplantation departments. Patient medical charts, demographics, and the outcome of renal transplantation were reviewed., Results: Initial renal disease was related to sarcoidosis in 10 patients. At the end of the follow-up (median, 42 months), patient and death-censored graft survival were 94.4% and the mean GFR was 60 ml/min per 1.73 m(2). Five patients (27%) experienced recurrence of sarcoidosis including extra-renal involvement in two patients and renal involvement in three patients. Median GFR was lower in the group of patients with renal recurrence compared with that of the entire cohort: 31 ml/min per 1.73 m(2). Recurrence occurred shortly after transplantation (median period, 13 months). Risk factors for recurrence included primary renal disease related to sarcoidosis and a shorter delay between the last episode of sarcoidosis and renal transplantation., Conclusions: Our results indicate that renal transplantation may be carried out safely in transplant candidates with sarcoidosis. Recurrence is not rare and is likely to affect graft outcome. These results fully justify a specific clinical and histologic monitoring mainly during the early posttransplant period.